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Abstract:
Superior spatial skills in males have been shown in a variety
of tasks such as accurately throwing to targets, intercepting
projectiles, spatial orientation, mental rotation,and spatial
memory. Recently Astur, Ortiz & Sutherland (1998) reported that
males are significantly faster and more efficient at locating a
hidden goal in a virtual environment. The navigation task is
analogous to the Morris water task that has been used for testing
spatial navigation and hippocampal function in rodents. In the
virtual Morris water task (vMWT) participants learn to navigate to
a hidden goal location using only the configuration of distal cues.
We conducted the present study to determine which of several
factors, in addition to sex, predict performance in the vMWT. We
tested college age students on the vMWT, Vandenberg Mental Rotation
Test, Ravens Progressive Matrices, Chicago Verbal Fluency and a 2-4
finger length ratio (associated with prenatal androgen exposure).
Consistent with previous results, males outperformed females on
several measures of speed and accuracy. Sex, mental rotation
ability, and Ravens score seem to make independent contributions to
the accuracy of virtual navigation. finger ratios were not
significantly correlated with vMWT performance after controlling
for sex. Navigation skills used in the vMWT make unique
contributions to understanding sexually dimorphic cognitive
processes.
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